"Sharon? Can you hear me?"She recognized Jim's voice, however distorted it was. She still couldn's see a thing, and she couldn't move, but those words were a start. Sharon tried to answer Jim, but she could only think of doing so, getting no feedback from her throat or ears. A loud crackle and some static filled the only sense she had working and then she heard Jim again, this time with no distortion.
"Excellent. Welcome back to the real world, hon."
Sharon's first tactile sensation was Jim's kiss on her forehead, his lips'texture more evident and clear than usual. Again she tried to speak, this time with success.
"kzzzzHow long?"
"Four hours... something like that. Don't worry, you didn't miss THAT much. Try to stand up now."
Sharon complied. She heard the klack of a plug going out as sensations from the rest of her new body entered her mind. Oddly enough, the only thing that wasn't back to her was sight; however, she could almost pinpoint Jim's position by hearing and smell alone. He was holding her hand firmly to prevent her falling over from the lab table, but there was no need for that. Not knowing how strong her new body was, Sharon decided not to return the grip.
"So, are you completely there?"
"Well, Jim, I think so... but I can't see!"
"I know... just let me fix this..."
Jim left Sharon's hand and reached out to her right shoulderblade with something cold -- possibly a screwdriver? Knowing Jim's lack of attention to aestethic details, Sharon hoped that her new body could at least pass for human.
"OK, this is the maintenance panel. You'll go down again for a little while, all right?"
"Uhm... right."
'Going down again' meant that feelingless limbo. This time however, it was just for a few seconds. Sharon returned to her senses without any particular hassle, and opened her eyelids. Her vision was sharper and clearer than ever before, even if there wasn't much to see before her besides a smiling Jim with a somewhat embarrassed face. Noticing that, Sharon remembered his previous comment about the android body sporting "odd features" and looked down at herself.
Sat Jul 31 15:55:09 1999